• Introducing the Raspberry Pi Pico Microcontroller - IoT Tech Trends

  The Raspberry Pi Foundation comes through again with another innovative device. Already well-known for its series of single-board computers, the company has announced the Raspberry Pi Pico, a microcontroller that costs a shockingly low $4. Adding to the interest, the company is using its own RP2040 chip for it, meaning it’s making its own silicon, just like Apple with its M1.

 

• Kernel 5.10.9 compiled for Pi4

  EasyOS for the Raspberry Pi4, version 2.6, has the 5.10.4 Linux kernel. I have now compiled the 5.10.9 kernel, that will be used in the next release of Easy.

 

• Fixed compile of Samba without krb5 in OE

  EasyOS on the Pi4 does not have samba, as compile failed in OE. Yes, I could compile it in a running EasyOS on the Pi4, but would rather fix it in OE.

  I have a 'samba_%.bbappend' file, the main objective being to remove the 'pam' and 'krb5' dependencies. I worked on this recipe this morning. The problem is that instead of 'krb5', the internal 'heimdahl' is used, and this compiles two binaries, that are then executed during compile.

  The problem is that the binaries are compiled for the target system, in this case aarch64, whereas the build system is x86_64, so the binaries cannot run.
  OE does have a mechanism to handle this. It is possible to compile 'samba-native', that is, samba compiled to run on the build-system, and then use the two binaries from that when compile 'samba'.

  Fine, except that exactly how to do this is very poorly documented. The official documentation is very vague. A couple of years ago, I bought a book, "Embedded Linux Systems with the Yocto Project", but found that it also said hardly anything about this. I consider this to be an important topic, yet it seems that many OE experts don't know much about it either.

    

• Arduino Blog » Turn your staircase into a flaircase with this LED system

  If you live in a house with stairs and have to traipse up and down at night, it’s best to have some sort of light that guides you. Although a cell phone can work just fine, or you could likely activate bright overhead lighting, creator MagicManu devised an automatic and progressive solution to illuminate his path instead.

  MagicManu’s system knows when someone is there using PIR sensors arranged at both ends, and only activates if it’s dark enough thanks to a photoresistor. The entire setup is controlled by an Arduino Nano, while two potentiometers adjust light sensitivity and duration of ignition.

The Darter Pro is one of System76's most versatile all-around Linux laptops and the 2021 refresh is here with 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 and i7-1165G7 CPUs with 4 cores / 8 threads and integrated Iris Xe graphics, up to 64GB dual-channel DDR4 3200MHz RAM, and up to 4TB M.2 SSD storage.

Best of all, the new Darter Pro comes with System76’s Coreboot-based Open Firmware and Open Source Embedded Controller Firmware to give customers full control over the hardware, and also make the Linux laptop faster and more secure.

Meet TUXEDO InfinityBook S 15, the smallest 15.6-inch Linux laptop offering from TUXEDO Computers that does not disappoint on any aspect. Its biggest attraction is the ultra thin design with 92 percent screen-to-body ratio and very compact design that can only be found on 14-inch laptops.

The ultra modern and thin design is due to the 15.6-inch Full HD (1920×1080 pixels) IPS display featuring approximately 300 nits brightness, 800:1 contrast, 95% sRGB color gamut, and anti-reflective / non-glare coating, as well as the monocolor (white) backlit keyboard with TUX super-key, and a clickpad with multi-touch gestures.

• Fanless embedded PC supports industrial GRE Tiger Lake CPUs

  Avalue’s fanless, rugged “EMS-TGL” embedded PC runs Linux or Win 10 on embedded versions of Intel’s 11th Gen ULP3 Core CPUs with up to 64GB DDR4-3200, 3x M.2, 1GbE and 2.5GbE ports, and optional “IET” expansion.

  Avalue, which recently launched a pair of NUC-APL mini-PCs based on Intel’s Apollo Lake, announced a larger, but similarly fanless embedded computer with Intel’s 10nm, 11th Gen “Tiger Lake” ULP3 processors. The rugged EMS-TGL runs Linux and Win 10 and supports applications including digital signage, smart retail, and computer vision.

  

• If LG stops making smartphones, who will push the boundaries with weird devices like the LG Wing and LG Rollable? - Liliputing

  Meanwhile, folks who are still interested in weird phones might have to look to smaller companies like F(x)Tec, Planet Computers, Pine64, and Purism, which have developed phones with features like built-in keyboards, support for GNU/Linux distributions and other free and open source operating systems, and physical kill switches for wireless, mic, and camera functions, among other things.

• MicroMod modular ecosystem offers M.2 microcontrollers cards and carrier boards

  MicroMod is a modular interface ecosystem for quick embedded development and prototyping. MicroMod comes with two components, that is a microcontroller “processor board” and a carrier board. PC industry’s M.2 connector is the interface between these two components. The carrier boards are for the usage of various peripherals and the processor board act as the brain of the application system. 

  

• Odroid Go Goes Super - Boiling Steam

  Odroid continues to move beyond the simple realm of Single Board Computers (SBCs) to become and more and more credible player as a portable consoles manufacturer. After introducing the Odroid Go and the Odroid Go Advance (that both cow_killer and I reviewed), they have announced at the end of December 2020 that they were going to release yet another version, the Odroid Go Super.

  

• Use Raspberry PI as FM Radio transmitter - peppe8o

  As usual, I suggest adding from now to your favourite ecommerce shopping chart all needed hardware, so that at the end you will be able to evaluate overall costs and decide if continuing with the project or removing them from shopping chart. So, hardware will be only:

  - Raspberry PI Zero W (including proper power supply or using a smartphone micro usb charger with at least 3A) or newer Raspberry PI Board